Shell Lake Snipe – Rehab

[Steve K.]

Gents,

I thought I’d throw up a thread regarding my recent project….as if I needed another. 🙂 Lots of woodworking talent on this forum so I thought there might be an interest.

I have always lusted for an old wood and canvas canoe….and more recently a Grand Laker Canoe from Maine. Short of driving 1000-plus miles to by a used one…..I began to look local. I quickly noticed there are no Grand Lakers in the SE United States….duh.

Here’s an original Grand Laker (or “Laka” as they say in ME.)

So after several months of looking….I found a smaller version of the “laka” in a barn up in North Georgia. Its a 1947-ish “Snipe”, manufactured by the Shell Lake Boat Company that was once located in Shell Lake, Wisconsin. The company was purchased by Lund Boats in the early 70s. The wood and canvas Shell Boats were no longer manufactured as of the mid-60s with the advent of fiberglass. Here’s a promotional photo of the Snipe in its heyday:

Here she is in present condition….a little worse for wear but still in decent shape for a 56 year old boat:

She’s a little rough around the edges…but nothing a good scarf joint and some epoxy can’t overcome. Inwales are in decent shape but the outwales are toast. There is some rot in the transom as well. I’ve been studying the techniques used to re-hab these old boats and it does not look too terribly difficult.

Hopefully when all is said and done….she’ll look like this:

I’ll post updates when (and if) they occur. 🙂 She could always end up as a bookcase.

[R Black]

Are you familiar with the West Systems products. They will have just what you need as far as adhesives etc.
That’s a beautiful boat, I’d love to try building one like that.
What’s the story on the boat in the last picture?

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever”

[Zach Matthews]

Very cool Steve! Gorgeous boat – kinda reminds me of an Au Sable boat crossed with my Gheenoe.

If you want to go for pure period accuracy I would get it, but that thing would look pretty bad ass with a removable wood poling platform on the back and a drop-in wood front casting deck. You could make them removable for the period look and just engineer some slots to hold them. The front deck would just need a front support and could rest on the seat in the rear (put a thin sheet of closed cell foam between them to protect the finish). You could even make the front deck with two front feet to communicate the load down to the hull itself.

For the rear deck I would think in terms of the Hog Island Skiff’s removable platform – you would just need a couple “flagpole-holder” slots on either side of the transom and then a place to bed down the front of the platform on the rear seat. Those could be removable with cotter pins.

Zach

Edit: like this –>

Attachments:

1. 

   photo.jpg
   

[Steve K.]

Thanks guys.

Randy….yes I’m familiar with West Systems products and have some resin, hardner, cloth and pumps on order. I may pick your brain from time-to-time if you don’t mind.

Zach….that is a neat concept but would most likely de-value the boat. The red Snipe in the last two photos is for sale now at $5800.00. That includes the period Johnson outboard as well as the trailer. Thanks for taking the time to sketch it out. I still may use the closed-cell foam for protection.

I’ve learned that there is an original ledger at the Washburn County (Wisconsin) Historical Society that has records for most of the Shell Lake boats. I had them run my serial number and found that it was sold to a store known as “Auto Electric Service” on November 19, 1947 for a whopping price of $126 bones. 🙂

See the fifth entry from the top….#539:

[Zach Matthews]

Cool!

[R Black]

Great Steve, I’ll be working in a location without web access for a while. I will check in as I can.

[Author]

Posts